On Thursday, October 25, in a move hailed by the Washington State Charter Schools Association, the Washington Supreme Court upheld all of the 2012 Charter School Law except the prohibition on unionization of charter employees. A majority of the Court rejected the argument made by plaintiffs, such as that bastion of objectivity the Washington Education Association, that charter schools violated the State Constitution because they use public moneys but are not accountable to voters. The plaintiff’s argument would be comical if it was not just false but also not rooted in a harmful aspect of the traditional system of public education.
Going back to the inception of charter schools, part of the impetus for an alternative to traditional public schools was the lack of accountability on the part of many school districts and school boards. In particular, the vehicle for “accountability”, public elections, actually serves to promulgate an egregious conflict of interest that would not be tolerated anywhere else. Unions make political contributions to board candidates sympathetic to their goals, then sit across the table from those candidates that were elected to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement, including pension benefits. It is no wonder, then, why numerous school districts across the country face crippling unfunded pension liabilities, and why traditional public schools support the effort to reduce or even reverse the number of charter schools.
Charter schools offer a choice to parents, who are also voters and taxpayers. In Washington State, the parents of 3,400 students have “voted” by enrolling their children in charter schools. If those schools perform, the families will continue to attend, making those schools highly accountable. If they don’t perform, the parents will “vote” to leave. The competition created by charter schools also brings an element of accountability to traditional public schools that had been sorely missing and which is far more effective than perpetuating a harmful conflict of interest. Congratulations to Washington State parents, taxpayers, and anyone interested in accountability and good government.